Me And My Books

ABCDEFGand all the way to XYand Z. In the little town of Carthage , Missouri where I was born and started school we didn’t know nuttin about Kindergarten. But my mother as ill as she was wanted me to have a good start and she home schooled me in my ABC’s and numbers and simple addition and subtraction. Along with a healthy boost from a kindly first grad teacher named Mrs. Wilson I got a good start. I had a good second grade lady named Mrs. Jones and a third grade teacher by the name of Miss. Cawfeild. At the end of my second-grade year I was moved in with my mothers mother and stayed there until the middle of my fourth grade year. I slipped in the third grade because the help from home had got lost in the worry by the adults about my dying mother. After the fourth grade any help from home ceased altogether and often I felt neglected and diminished. I do not think this was deliberate but just what happened. Anyway I have always had the ability to read and comprehend, it simply lay dormant until my fourteenth year. Then I discovered the ability to transport myself to different realms and adventures. Someone gave my stepmother a Hugh double stack of Saturday Evening Post Magazines. In each issue there were two short stories and two, two part serials. The serials were published in such a way that one ended and the other started each week, there by creating a steady readership each week. I breezed through these magazines like a prairie fire through dry brush. I learned how to kill a elephant with a axe with African Pigmy’s and got my first introduction to Wyatt Earp and his brothers and the OK Corral. By the time I had devoured all that the Saturday Evening Post had to offer I was consumed with a thirst for more. As it happened we were living next door to two of the towns Librarians who were the maiden Aunts to my former third grade teacher Miss. Cawfeild who happened to live with them. They persuaded my mother to get me a library card and taught me how to track down the books I would come to love and treasure for life. They knew of my love for cowboys and introduced me to Zane Grey. That summer I read every volume they had in stock of him, the Riders Of The Purple Sage and al the rest. The old ladies had lived in Arizona where he wrote most of his books and centered their stories which fascinated me to no end. I do not think I have read a book a book that I have not retained something from. I have truly traveled the world and visited locals that would have been closed to me otherwise. I have received a education through recreational reading. reading to me is better than television for I submerse myself in a book. I surround myself with the picture and action in a way that I cannot by viewing a picture.

I have exposed myself to different cultures and how the mind set of different people cause them to act differently than we do. I do not know which I enjoy the most my books or my varied music. Reading has introduced me to not only Beethoven’s music but his loss of hearing. The tortured genius of Mozart and his tragic early death and burial in a mass grave with others that died of the plague. I have traveled all across this great country of ours with Pilgrims, Indian Tribes and the builders of the railroads and the Mormons just every body it seems. One great series was John Jakes Centennial set what eight big books that chronicle the start and struggle of our nation. Lord it seems like I have lived so many different lives that it seems staggering.

then there are the fun times and authors I truly love. James Patterson, I have read everyone except for his latest Cross. I know his Alex Cross and family like they live next door and I an involved in their life. I am disappointed when they make a film of his books , never near the same. Patricia Cornwell, and her female medical examiner Kay Scarpetta and her thirteen of so volumes, the same I have stood there along side her in the morgue how many times? Robin Cook, and how many more? Traversed the Rocky Mountains with the mountain men of William Johnstone, and rode the west with Louise LaAmore. It has been a rich ride with them all.

currently travelling desolation of the waste lands with the gunslinger Rolland in Stephen Kings Dark tower series. Also have real all forty of his other books. The best of the lot in my view, The Stand, also made a great mini series on TV.

Diabetes scares the hell out of me. So many loose their sight and that is truly a fear of mine. I have fought this damn curse for twenty-six years now. Sometimes my eyes tire and ache especially on this infernal machine that I’m typing on now, but I keep plugging along. But as I say books have always been close companions. Not only for entertainment but I taught my self plumbing, electricity, how to tune up a car and a myriad of other things. I believe I mentioned earlier that I was a poor High School student. that was just disinterest and laziness. In boot champ I took a two years collage equivalency test and passed on my ability to read and retain. God if you don’t teach your kids any thing else make sure they can read.

One Response to “Me And My Books”

I’ve been too busy (lazy) to read for pleasure and management books have drained my brain, so I’ve resorted to audio books. Some audio fiction is fun to listen to and let your imagination run, though other content doesn’t feel right when narrated. Glad I got my love of books from you and Nana though – I know it greatly improved my vocabularly and enables me to sound more articulate when speaking 🙂